DISCLAIMER! I do not own anything in this story.

"Honey, you forgot a box."

I sighed and picked up a cardboard box filled with trophies and carried it into our new house.

Ever since my dad died, my mom has been struggling to keep her job, but she got a promotion, and we had to move here. I was nervous about making new friends, and it didn't help that I was an only child. I tightened my short brown ponytail, and unpacked a box full of my clothes, that were basically only t-shirts, jerseys, and jeans. When I was finished, I wanted to get some fresh air.

"Mom? Can I please go walk around?" I yelled after my mom who was unpacking boxes.

"Yeah sure." She muttered. "Honey," she started, and she stared at me with a worried look. "See if you can make some friends today." She said and shooed me out the front door.

I grabbed my sketch book, held it firmly in my hands and walked down the gravel driveway and through the neighborhood.

I flipped open my sketch book and sketched a quick picture of a girl playing baseball.. Most of my drawings had to do with sports. If only there was another girl that played baseball or another sport here.

"Hey smalls! Throw it to two!" I heard someone yell.

I twisted my head around and saw a group of boys playing a game of baseball on a worn baseball field. I flipped my sketchbook shut and held it tightly against my chest.

A dark haired boy with olive skin threw the baseball up into the air and hit it to left center. A small blonde haired boy caught it and threw it to second, like the other boy instructed.

I felt the urge to just run on to the field and join the game but that would be awkward in many ways.

I decided to walk around the field. As I walked, I pleaded that no one would see me.

No such luck.

It was going fine until I walked behind the blonde kid. The batter hit the ball too hard, and it landed on my sketch book, knocking it out if my hands and scattering my drawings everywhere.

By then, all the boys' heads were turned, and they were staring at me. I kneeled down to pick up my papers, hoping no one would see them, but a short boy with thick framed glasses picked a few up and studied them.

All the boys crowded around him, looking over his shoulder at my drawings.

"Wow," I heard the batter mumble.

"Yeah yeah, truly." Another short, tan boy muttered.

I could feel my face grow hot. I hated drawing attention to myself. The boys all stared up at me.

I looked away and shuffled my feet in the dirt.

"What's your name?" A tall boy with glasses asked.

"Um.. Katie." I answered quietly. I picked at the thread bracelet on my wrist.

The short tan boy blew a bubble and it popped loudly.

The batter introduced each boy to me, starting with himself. " I'm Benny."

He pointed to two boys that looked alike, but one was shorter. "This is Timmy and Tommy Timmons." The taller one spit and the shorter one copied what he did.

He moved on to the boy with glasses that picked up my sketches. "This is Mike "Squints" Palledoures." Squints spit at the ground, also.

He pointed to the skinny tan boy. "Alan Mcclenan, we call him Yeah Yeah." He spit at the ground then blew another bubble.

He finished off the names of the others, each boy spitting after his name was called. "Kenny Denunez, Bertram Grover Weeks, Hamilton porter, we call him ham, and Scott Smalls, you can call him Smalls."

Smalls didn't spit though. I could tell he was more mature than the other boys right off the bat.

"So, what are you doing here?" Squints asked.

"Yeah yeah, girls aren't supposed to like baseball." Yeah yeah blurted out.

Benny jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow in my defense.

"Jeez, sorry." Yeah yeah muttered in reply.

"I'm not the best, but I like watching and playing it." I replied.

Yeah yeah flashed a half-smile and squints pushed his glasses up, which slid down his nose.

"Cool!" Bertram said, smiling a little. "This is the Sandlot."

"We've never met a girl who liked baseball before... Is that even legal?" Ham replied, and I could tell he didn't want me there.

"Um, yeah, but sorry ill, um, leave" I gathered the rest of my drawings and ran. I didn't feel comfortable. I mean, I barley even knew them.

I slowed down to a walk and I could hear them arguing. I heard Benny's voice the loudest, though.

"C'mon, can't she play just 1 game?" He pleaded with his group.

Then I heard something that surprised me. They said yes.